Why do people get mad when you say the word Uranus?

Answer 1

if you split the word in half. you get: UR ANUS! duh

Answer 2

This is unfortunately the correct name for the 7th planet, and it is said as yur- ay - nus. However, pronouncing it sounds a lot like 'your anus', which is a way of referring to a butt-crack. Even if you twist this pronunciation to yur - un - us, it still sounds dirty, as 'urine us' sounds like another bad reference. There is no way out of this dilemma that I can find.

This is the problem with taking foreign words into a language as rich as English, for they often sound like other words.
This is also true in other languages. I've heard that 'banjo' in the Vietnamese language sounds too much like their word 'ben - jo', which in their language means 'restroom stool', so a reference to someone in a USO band playing the banjo brought a big laugh and a lot of dirty looks from an audience they played for there.

Answer 3

Because some people get a silly kick out of pronouncing it like "your anus" and now the politically correct way of saying it sounds like "you're a nus". So now days if you say it the first way people think you're trying to be bathroom humor funny. There is no more to it than that.

Answer 4

It has negative and comical annotations due to the usual pronouciation of the planet's name sounding similar to the words 'your anus'.
This can be used in different situations for a comedy effect, but seemingly as your respondants are reacting angrily, the situation you are discussing is not one such venue.

Seek this link to a video demonstrating the point more clearly than words can describe:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kMOeV5MLOvc&mode=related&search=

Answer 5

Three people who tried to answer the question got it wrong: the correct pronuciation of the planet is "yur-in-is". Also, I have never seen anyone get mad regardless of how you pronounce the name.

Answer 6

Because the grass is green and the sky is blue